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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23922709">Sakura [Chapter Two]</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobasheebaby/pseuds/bobasheebaby'>bobasheebaby</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Cordonian Ruby [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Royal Romance (Visual Novel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood, Blood and Gore, Bradshaw is a fucking tyrant, F/M, Gore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:01:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,258</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23922709</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobasheebaby/pseuds/bobasheebaby</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby’s fifth birthday. Minor insight into the changes Cordonia faces.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bastien/Olivia Nevrakis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Cordonian Ruby [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1724443</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sakura [Chapter Two]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p></p><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Sakura (cherry blossom)-in Japanese culture, the cherry blossom is a symbol of new beginnings and a fresh start.</em>
  </p>
  <p>”Mama!” Ruby shouted as she ran into the home, her feet pounding against the hardwood floors, blonde pigtails bouncing with each step. She wrapped her arms around Olivia as best she could, her sapphire eyes shining bright as she looked up at the only mother she ever knew.</p>
  <p>Olivia grinned down at the excited girl. “There’s my birthday princess. Did you have fun at school?”</p>
  <p>“Uh huh! They gave me a paper crown and sang to me.”</p>
  <p>Olivia smiled, her heart feeling a tad lighter. She had been worried about sending Ruby off to school, they had been cautious her entire life just incase Bradshaw came looking, now it was time to settle down, at least for a few years. The thought of staying in one place so long set her on edge but it was the best thing for Ruby.</p>
  <p>She looked around the sparsely decorated home, that for once was all <em>theirs</em>. A home, a place that finally felt permanent, even though it too would be temporary and abandoned with time. All essentials easily accessible if they needed to leave in a hurry.</p>
  <p>“Sounds like you had a big day.”</p>
  <p>“Yup.” Her eyes fell on the plate of cupcakes on the table, her face breaking out into a broad grin that reminded Olivia of Carolyn. “My cupcakes! You made them by scratching right?” Her face hopeful as she looked up at her mother.</p>
  <p>Bastien chuckled, his warm laugh reverberating through the small space. His grey eyes sparkled, he knew if Ruby looked, the boxed truth would stare up at her from the trash can. “It’s from scratch,” his eyes met Olivia’s. “And yes, mama baked them herself,” he said handing her a cupcake with a generous swirl of frosting.</p>
  <p>“Oh right.” She patted Olivia’s round stomach with her other hand, “I wish brother would come outside so he could celebrate with us.”</p>
  <p>“He’ll be here soon enough, and we can celebrate him with more cupcakes together.”<br/>
 - -</p>
</div><blockquote class="">
  <p>M<strong><em>ORALE AT ALL TIME LOW </em></strong></p>
</blockquote><blockquote class="">
  <p>F<em>ive years have passed since the last of the Rys line was found slain. The kingdom which once prospered now simply exists to fund another.<br/>
</em></p>
</blockquote><blockquote class="">
  <p>
    <em>Once there was hope in the hearts of the citizens, hope that has long since left Cordonia. Once a prayer that the heir lay in wait to fly once again laid on everyone’s lips. Now with the bleakness surrounding us for so long all hope and joy has faded from the once lush and rolling hills of our nation.</em>
  </p>
</blockquote><blockquote class="">
  <p>
    <em> It is feared that even if an heir existed that it would be far too late for our country to be saved when they finally came of age. </em>
  </p>
</blockquote><blockquote class="">
  <p>
    <em>We cry today as we do every year. We cry for our fallen leaders. We cry for the heir that never had a chance to grow. We cry for the future that could have been. </em>
  </p>
</blockquote><div class="">
  <p>Olivia sighed as she placed the tablet beside her on the bed. She regretted clicking on the link, while she knew things back in Cordonia were bleak she didn’t think they’d lost all hope of being reborn. M<em>aybe I shouldn’t have left, I should have stayed and fought. </em></p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She rubbed gentle circles over her large belly. So much weight would press down on Ruby in thirteen short years. She knew that weight, that pressure, the fear of failure and having no one to lean on for support. <em>She will have me. </em></p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What’s troubling you?” Bastien questioned resting his hand on top of hers.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“If I say nothing will you believe me?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“No.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She looked down at their hands as their fingers intertwined, when she’d offered to leave with him she hadn’t expected they’d evolve into anything. Even with her regrets of leaving her homeland to be ruled by a tyrant she didn’t regret anything that had occurred with them.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“It’s Cordonia …” she relaxed into him as he shifted closer, “they’ve lost all hope … I just wonder if maybe I should have stayed and fought like a true Nevrakis.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He squeezed her hand. “First, you are a true Nevrakis, leaving with me didn’t change that. Which leads into my second and third points.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>If you had stayed in Cordonia Ruby wouldn’t have you, I would have done my best, but she gets her fighting spirit from you. Not to mention this one wouldn’t be coming into the world.” He rubbed her stomach with his thumb, still not releasing her hand from his. He smiled as his thumb received a kick.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She shot him a glare. “Point taken, but what if Cordonia is beyond saving?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He sighed, it was a fear he’d felt himself since he’d shown up at the keep with the tiny heir clutched to his chest, his hands and clothes painted red with the fallen queen’s blood. “If Cordonia is lost, it would be disappointing, <em>but</em> we saved the most important thing, and even if we can’t ever return we can breathe easy knowing that.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She nodded as she leaned further into him, resting her head on his shoulder. She didn’t need to ask, she knew exactly what he meant.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Even if Cordonia was lost, at least Ruby was saved.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>- - -</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Bradshaw stared out his window down at his Honor Guard. A smirk spread across his lips as he took in all he’d accomplished. He’d spent the past five years growing his troops, arming them with top of the line weapons. With the wealth of Cordonia at his disposal there wasn’t any country that could stand in his way.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He now had the strength <em>and</em> the wealth to overtake any country that might oppose them. <em>King Liam was a fool not to align with me, now he shall serve as a lesson that I will cut down all who underestimate my power. </em></p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He could make the world bend to its knee if he wished. There was no country, no <em>person</em> who could stand in his way of absolute power.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Five years ago he’d questioned if the whispered rumors among the citizens of Cordonia could be true. He had questioned if it was possible for the heir to have survived. He’d cursed his instrument in his finest takeover for being so weak as to die upon impact, had he survived, he would have peace of mind. He soon pushed the fear to depths where they could never return from. He’d seen the wreckage first hand, needing to see with his own eyes that his opponents were no longer standing.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He’d smiled as he took in the crumpled hood covered in a pool of congealed blood of the former king. He’d laughed at the sight of the queen’s stomach torn open, her organs completely eviscerated by a pack of wandering wolves. The hope for a future now laid in the stomach of a top predator.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He’d felt slight apprehension at the open door and missing driver. The bloody interior of the car, and prints on the door had assuaged any lingering fear. Surely the driver had met a similar fate as the fallen queen, torn to shreds by a pack of hungry beasts.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He found it fitting that the conquered monarchs had been fed upon by a top predator, much as he would feast upon the carcass of Cordonia. He would use this insignificant nation to raise the status of his own back to the former glory it’d once held under another name and a long lived empress.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> </p>
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